People Who Are Anti-Abortion Are Also Sexist, Worrying Study Finds

FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2007 file photo, protesters march near a Planned Parenthood location in Aurora, Ill. Some Illinois lawmakers are seeking to require annual inspections for all the state's abortion clinics, more than three years after officials took steps to reinforce the system following a report by The Associated Press that some facilities had gone 15 years without an inspection. (AP Photo/Stacie Freudenberg, File)

A new study has found a link between sexism and anti-abortion attitudes.

Begun used data gathered from a previous survey of 651 undergraduate students from six universities, 70 percent or whom were female and 30 percent male. Analyzing their responses to a series of online surveys, she looked at three potential predictors of anti-choice attitudes: Hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and combined scores of hostile and benevolent sexism together. Research suggests that benevolent sexism pigeonholes women into roles as nurturers and caregivers, and that women who seek abortions fail to live up to this ideal, hence the connection between benevolent sexism and abortion.

Participants were asked how much they agreed with "benevolent" sexist statements like "in a disaster, women ought to be rescued before men" and "a good woman should be set on a pedestal by her man," as well as hostile sexist statements like "women are too easily offended" and "feminists are seeking for women to have more power over men."

"The results showed that as people increasingly endorsed hostile sexist views, they were statistically significantly more likely to hold anti-choice abortion attitudes," Begun told The Huffington Post. "The same was true for people who endorse benevolent sexist views of women -- and to the exact same degree as those who endorsed hostile sexist views."

Those who scored highly on the combined scale of benevolent and hostile sexism were even more likely to hold anti-abortion views, which Begun told HuffPost "[shows] that both types of [sexism] are dangerous to supporting a woman's right to choose, and even more dangerous when both forms are endorsed."

These results held true across gender lines, showing just how nuanced sexism can be -- and explaining why the fight for a woman's right to choose is so complicated.

One of the most buzzed about parts of the Affordable Care Act is the so-called contraceptive mandate, which requires that most private health insurance plans cover birth control without a co-pay or deductible. In other words, for free.
There are exceptions. Certain plans have been grandfathered in, or given more time before they have to adhere to the change. Religious employers are also exempt. And while the mandate requires that the full range of FDA-approved prescription contraceptives be covered, it does not require that all brands be covered, so you might have to switch to a generic drug in order to get your contraception for free. <a href="http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/politics-policy-issues/affordable-care-act-39966.htm" target="_blank">Planned Parenthood recommends</a> calling the member services number on the back of your insurance card to talk about what is covered by your plan.